Tech Run

Today was a day we had been building to for a while- a run in costume, a run in the space, a run with our props- today was our tech run. It felt so cool to be in the space in costume with hair and make-up, in my heels, in my red dress; the cast were brimming with excitement and it felt really special.

I was able to see the set in the plot, but for some people this was the first time they'd seen the set in it's full glory and to see everyone's faces was something that filled me with such joy. I described it as being a 'kid in a candy store' and we had gone and described all we'd seen to the cast, but had no visual evidence to show them, so to see all those fantasies and expectations be realised and brought to life was beautiful. I felt a shift in the whole cast; a belief flooded through us all which had come from the set something that had boosted this world in the stratosphere. Our world had expanded and evolved to epic proportions. Plus this is the first time that I had seen the whole cast in there costume. We were able to see some costume in the costume parade, but to see the whole cast stood in the space suited and booted, looking like icons of 90s business was a surreal experience- we've painted this wondrous picture and now we have to get it to stand out in the gallery.

To tech a play is a long process, but it was really important to figure out all the things that needed to be done so we could make this whole piece as slick as possible because I believe that is what is standing between us being good and great. I think as a whole one of the main things I got from today was that this set has to feel like my home, my work place of 15 years; I know all corridors, floors, cupboards, basements- it is my dominion. Therefore when I'm working I need to make use of the set and not let it work against me, but lift me and guide my choices in the moment. I think today because things were changing and we were being interrupted and moved around it was difficult to focus on forming a relationship with the set and yet I believe that this is imperative to do before our performance next week. The scale of this is set is grander than grand so it is easy to get lost in it. If I want to stand my ground within it, I need to feel comfortable with my surroundings and understand my journey within it.

I loved being on the balcony in this run. In rehearsals we've all just been imagining the height of the platform and the difference it will make to our scenes, but actually being up there makes you feel like you are in a top floor office or on a rooftop with a view of the city and it makes my experience throughout the play take on another dimension. When I'm working with someone on a different level I can create strong choices about how to position myself in relation to them and how to use the height to assert power and dominance or contrasting that being lost and isolated. To have this key detail finally there to play around with and experience was really great.

The scene that didn't work today was the E Trader scene. In all honesty there wasn't any element of this scene that landed and we were all over the place. Such a strong run began to crumble because of this scene. We have spent so much time making sure we have built a world and characters that are self assured and confident and yet there was an atmosphere in the room that indicated to everyone onstage that we had no clue what we were doing. In some ways I'm glad the issue was raised in the tech in the hope that we can resolve it before the next show.

Some important things I am going to take from today's tech run are:

• I need to be very careful on the stairs. Because of the material they are constructed from my heel is thin enough to slip through the gaps which happened in the run today and it could both look bad and throw me off. I just need to remember to walk on my toes so I don't lose a shoe midway through the show. 
• I need to time my costume changes well and make sure everything is where I need it to be. However perhaps more importantly than this I need to help the other girls when I'm not needed onstage. For a large proportion of the second half I am offstage, but some of the other girls have some quick changes and if I can I need to be there to assist them in getting changed. 
• Make sure I know where all my props are and map out my journey with them in the play so nothing is left onstage when I need it for the next scene. 
• Volume- you always forget how much you need to project in a theatre, let alone when you have an audience on three sides so I need to make sure that intimate moments do not happen at the expense of my projection. 
• My posture needs to replicate that of confident 40 year old with status and power and maintained throughout.
• I need to find my light at all times. I need to have the awareness to understand where the light is and isn't hitting my face and move into it if need be. 

Kid in a candy store

Today we got to see our set for the first time in the plot. It was probably the closest I have felt to childish excitement for a long time. Seeing this world that we have spent so long creating come to life before my eyes was indescribable; in fact the only word I can use to describe it is magical. The floor is something else- not only does it light up it can fade, jump, flash- it is so very Enron. Seeing the balcony where I spend  a lot of time in this play, getting to look and see what Claudia will be seeing when we perform- it was awe inspiring. When you see your set and props and get to begin using them, you normally step out of fantasy into reality; with this it was in reverse. I had built a reality of what to expect, how it would feel, how to act and then I stepped into the theatre today and I knew that this was the mixture of the dreams of a madman and a magician. The detail of the whole thing is incredible- it makes our world take on so many new dimensions- it feels textured, it has depth, it feels real.

All of us were so giddy- running around like we were in a playground, climbing up the poles, running up the stairs, running across the deck- the whole thing had made us crazed. Everywhere we turned it was like we discovering things that we have been working on in rehearsal for months completely anew. However we obviously we there for a reason and had to work with the tech team helping them to plot all the lighting cues and changes. Seeing this stage be lit up- in so many different colours and styles- it reminded what I saw back in September that made me want to be in this show. The whole piece is coming together and now it is about us bringing a performance that will not be swallowed by this set, but meet it, match it, compliment it and play within it.  The set is there to help us and we can now use all of those things we dreamed we would have to our advantage.

The final preparations- my final blocks

Today we came back from our Christmas break and the final stage of our rehearsal process is underway. In two weeks time we will have performed our first show and will be on our way to the end of this whole crazy ride. Although that prospect is saddening right now I have to focus on how excited I am to share this work that I haven't shut up about for 5 months.

Today we worked on the 1999 NYE scene. We have decided to change my entrance because the logistics of the whole thing was ruining the effect. So now I am being wheeled in on one of the tables, which matches the lift in dramatic effect and just avoids the problem of gravity. We worked completely on that scene today just trying to inject as much precision and energy into the scene so it lives up to the expectation that many people in the audience will have for a scene that may be reliving one of the craziest parties they ever attended.

However today I had a real problem. I have been asked to do a lot of things that push me, but this was something that brought me the closest I have come to turning around and just telling Ben that I couldn't do it. Ben wanted my dance once I arrived in the space to be something bigger and better; the word that describes what I thought he was going for is showgirl. And I was to use Mani as a prop, my own personal pole to dance on. This was like my worst nightmare, like someone had taken everything that made me feel sick to my stomach with nerves and asked me to do it. In that moment when I was trying to improvise something that both matched Ben's expectations and worked within my limitations all I could see in my head was a 1950s Marilyn Monroe sequence from 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.'

 

In fact after I was dismissed I went home and watched it and here was my problem- to me, no costume, no accent, no music, no self belief could transform me into this sort of women onstage so to me doing this was just walking on stage and humiliating myself. Over and over again I have had to remind myself that I took this role too challenge myself and over the months the things I've learnt and the way I've developed has shocked me and yet this was the one thing I wasn't sure anyone could talk me into doing.

 

However I've had some time since the session to reflect on the way I feel. All of these feelings are because of me- this is not how I choose to act or present myself and it's not how I want to be judged. However if I walked on stage and people judged me in the same way people judged Claudia, it would be fundamentally wrong because you cannot judge or interpret any of actions to parallel one another. Therefore the audience have no choice but to invest in this character to bring this world to life. My job is to make that job as easy as possible. I do this because I love the transformation- if I wanted to play myself I would never have even read Enron. And yet here I am, two weeks away from our show. In this session I froze, went inside myself and worked within my limitations, but the fundamental difference of me pulling this all off is me constantly working against my fears. I won't be able to stop pushing from the first to last moment and that work is scary but it will create that buzz, that energy which has made me fall in love with this show. I do this this because I like being other people for a time, I like getting in their minds and bodies, I like being effected and affecting others with my character and Claudia offers me all of that- I've now just have to accept the offer she is making.

9/11

In Enron the downfall of the company is marked alongside the events of September 11th 2001. To understand the significance of this reference and to be able to do justice to a scene that I believe is particularly emotive, we need to research what happened that day and understand the scale of the topic we are dealing with. 

The World Trade Centre was home to 430 companies with an average of 50,000 employees working each day and 140,000 visitors. The morning of 9/11 at 8:45am, the first of 4 plane crashes that day occurred as a plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Centre. 18 minutes later a second plane hit the south tower. Including those on board the planes 2.823 people were killed at the Twin Towers attack. At 9:45am another plane was flown into the west side of the Pentagon. Including those on board the plane 189 people were killed. Due to the 2300 degrees fahrenheit temperatures from the fires caused by the attack on the Twin Towers the south tower collapsed. Soon after the second tower also collapsed leaving only 6 survivors. After that 0 survivors were recovered from the site of the destroyed World Trade Centre named Ground Zero. Another plane crash occurred at 10:10am when a plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The passengers on board the plane fought the four hijackers, flipped the plane over, crashing it into the field. It was rumoured that the plane may have been heading to the White House or another densely populated location. All 45 people on board died but their efforts may have saved the lives of hundreds of others. 

The New York Stock Exchange shut down until September 17th, the longest period of time since 1933 amidst the crisis of the great depression. The markets knew that there would be panic selling so wanted to force people to wait until everything had calmed down and the immediate shock waves had passed. On the first day of trading the market fell 684 points the biggest loss for a singular trading day in exchange history. Over that initial week of trading after the attacks an estimated $1.4 trillion of value was lost. Airline stock shares plummeted with American Airlines dropping from $29.70 per share pre 9/11 to a $18.00 price after with United Airlines facing an even more serious drop from $30.82 to $17.50.

What does this mean in terms of Enron? The markets were in chaos and if there was something Enron needed at that moment in time it was stability- they didn't need people getting scared- and 9/11 did just that. 9/11 isn't necessarily directly linked with the reasons Enron collapsed but it was a catalyst in the beginning of the end for the company.  We have seen the footage and the pictures, read the facts, listened to the accounts and now it is our responsibility to make the piece we include in the play sensitive, truthful and meaningful. We have here two events that shook the world for two very different reasons but based upon similar circumstances; that something that was once a beacon of hope and stability was destroyed before our very eyes. People were lost and frightened as their core values were shifted. That imagery of loss and large scale destruction is something we aim to bring. Two pillars of the American economy gone within 3 months of each other. As a company we need to translate to our audience how catastrophic this really was.

Yoshi Oida

Yoshi Oida is someone Ben talks a lot about in rehearsal so to understand why he is so important I thought I needed to do some research. Yoshi Oida is a Japanese actor, director and author. Throughout his career he worked closely with Peter Brook; in 1970 he joined the International Centre of Theatre Research 2 years after moving to France to work with Brook. He has written 3 books-- the floating actor, the invisible actor and the cunning actor.

He believes in finding a rhythm of life and the connection between your body and the world around, being able to exist and notice the world and in turn listening to your bodies impulses to react. There is an exercise which experiments with this in which a group of people would clap together with no one leading, finding a rhythm which eventually begins to build and gain speed and momentum until it reaches a peak by which time you go back to the start and build once again. I think I understand the connection between this mans work and the work we do in rehearsal with side stretch. At the end of the movement when we all come to standing we try and notice the world around us, listening to our bodily impulses, syncing them with the intentions of the whole cast. Building that tension and feeling it rise is a very similar effect to the clapping exercise, when you finally reach a peak- the ha- and without talking or commenting you set up to start all over again.

Both our work in side stretch and the teachings of Yoshi Oida ask us to listen to what our body wants and not matter whether it is right or wrong. Learning to be attentive and sensitive to your surroundings so as to understand what your body is and wants. Developing this and putting it to use when I work with a scene or a character development means learning how to notice my bodies instincts and not deny them so as to keep playing and to keep building the energy and tension within the play.

Taking a walk in Claudia's shoes (literally)

Claudia's costume is where the transformation happens; a costume is named so to indicate that the clothes an actor is wearing are there for 'dressing up' purposes as they exist as another being for however long they are on stage. Claudia's clothing does this for me; and where else to start but with the red shoes. The picture included here are not of the shoes I will be wearing, nor any shoes I believe Claudia would have in her wardrobe, but instead are a very famous pair from 'The Wizard of Oz'. When talking about the power of red shoes you need look no further than this comparison as it holds many of the same explanations as to the power of red shoes. Dorothy's shoes transport her and my shoes transport me- the magical transformation device taking me from a rehearsal room to a cooperate world of business. Walking in the shoes changes a lot about me: my posture, my walk, the way I stand and so using them in the rehearsal room is key so as to connect with them as they become an extension of my foot. Rebecca was described in the New York Times as a dominating figure of business strutting all over the word in 'stiletto heels' and Claudia Roe will be doing just that all across the world we are creating.

The clothing is also a big part of getting into her character because it is a very bold statement and it requires a certain kind of person to pull it off and therefore I have to push everything about her character to literally and metaphorically fill the clothes. Myself and Claudia clearly do not share the same taste in style; a shoulder padded short red dress, leather trousers with a red leotard and an extravagant funeral hat are nowhere to be found in my personal wardrobe. However I think the polar opposite nature of our style helps me. To put this character onstage is daunting, to do as myself is wrong, so to have a costume which allows me to shake off any excess 'olivianess' that I have is essential when I am building a character such as hers.

In the costume parade, when I walked into the workroom wearing my 3 different outfits, there was an audible reception for each which made me a little embarrassed. However things like that are the kind of thing I need to start embracing. A costume is a visual aid to help the audience enter this new realm of business and finance and Claudia's look is one that is made for the soul purpose of standing out. If I am able to work with that I believe a lot of my other insecurities will drift away- when I look in the mirror wearing these outfits, it's not me I see, which means the women onstage is not either giving me the armour I need to be bulletproof against all the nagging doubts I have. The outfit has allowed me to feel like this women the most I ever have so far in this process, so adapting to it and knowing how to work it, will make her come to life. 

Frantic Assembly

When it comes to our physical work, being inspired by the work of people such as Frantic Assembly. will help us as an ensemble to make work that is well structured, imaginative and effective at portraying our story to the audience.

If you take a look at the work in this video you can see that Frantic are able to have a whole cast transition on and offstage with focus and pace without getting in each others way. As a group I believe our ensemble is what will make the play the best it can be. The play will not be made great by a small group of people, it will be made by the whole ensemble working together; it will create a performance that creates this religious cult that existed at Enron. Having a look at the work of a group of young people such as that in the video above, proves to us that it is possible to have discipline whilst still maintaining our creativity and playfulness.

Frantic assembly make a lot of their work in a devising process instead having one person choreograph. They allow their performers to trial an idea and then adapt it until they find a motif, routine or move that they believe works for the company and the project. I think applying this creative approach would work for us but only by using the second half of Frantic's approach which is working within the boundaries of certain rules. Therefore we would be able to create informed work which we had all communicated about, agreeing on the sort of work we were aiming to produce. We are a group with a lot of ideas and a lot of energy, but admittedly sometimes we need guidelines to help the work become less messy so as to give it a clear purpose making it as effective as possible.

Another element that Frantic make use of throughout their process is music. I think the Enron soundtrack has been underestimated in the rehearsal room; it creates atmosphere and energy and yet when we create work I often feel as an ensemble we work against it instead of listening to what it is the track can provide for us. Frantic choose music to help tell their story and I think Ben has done the same. Allowing our work to be informed by the soundtrack is fundimental if we want to tell this story to the best of our ability. Frantic's work centres around creating motifs, sequences and performances that tell a story and entertain an audience the same way a more traditional naturalistic play does. Our music is part of taking our audience to an alternative universe, so letting the music run through us will make all our physcial sequences look so much more well rounded.